Just For The Night
by Keirou
Summary: A young Spirit  around 14  wakes to find his younger meister Stein  around 10  upset in his room after a nightmare.


It was turning out to be an awesome dream. Spirit stood in front of everyone at Shibusen, tall and proud, as Shinigami-sama spoke. The day had come at last. The day when he, Spirit Albarn, would become one of Shinigami-sama's own weapons. A true Death Scythe. He glanced over to where Stein stood beside him, the pale boy wearing the ghost of a smile. Heh. Weird or not, he sure had one hell of a partner, didn't he? He grinned a bit as Stein turned to look at him, the expression fading as the stare just intensified. What was his problem? They'd done their bit, hadn't they? This was what they'd been working towards.

"Hey, stop staring," Spirit whispered, starting to get irritated. "It's creepy." Stein's expression didn't shift. "Stop it, I said!" Still no change. "Dammit, would you knock it off!" Stupid Stein, ruining a perfectly good dream by being creepy...couldn't Spirit get away from that even inside his own head? He opened his eyes, the dream disturbed beyond recall, and moved to roll over. Then he jumped about three feet in the air.

"GAH!"

There, standing in his doorway, was the unmistakable form of Stein, standing in his pajamas and clutching – of all random things – a teddy bear. Both pajamas and bear had the black stitches that were fast becoming Stein's trademark, and the younger boy was staring silently at Spirit, pale grey-green eyes wide in the dim light. Spirit tried to speak for a moment, only incoherent syllables coming out before he finally managed a complete sentence.

"Stein, what are you doing in my room?" he asked, unconsciously pulling the sheets up around himself like a shield. Stein had the vaguely creepy habit of just turning up places, but this was the first time Spirit had ever woken up to the other boy in his room in the middle of the night. It was rather unsettling.

Stein just stood there in silence, face devoid of any expression. Spirit leaned forward a bit, peering at him through the darkness. Was he shaking a little? He seemed to be holding that teddy bear a little too tightly...Spirit blinked as the moonlight streaming in through his window glistened off something on Stein's cheek. Tears? Stein was crying? That in itself was cause for alarm; Stein barely showed more emotion than a stick.

Spirit sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Another nightmare?" he asked, not expecting an answer. Stein hadn't said anything – he never did – but Spirit knew he hadn't been sleeping well recently. "Fine, come on." Spirit shifted over in his bed, making room for the younger boy. "Just for tonight, though, got it?"

Stein remained silent but padded forward, climbing into the space left for him. Was it Spirit's imagination, or had he relaxed a little? The red-haired weapon just shook his head, settling back down on his half of the bed. "You just stay on that side," he warned, his voice gruffer than he really felt. Stein never complained about anything, even when it was obvious something was eating at him; Spirit might make a pretense of roughness with him, but he really did feel a bit protective towards his younger meister. Stein didn't really have anyone else, after all.

Spirit stared at the wall, pondering the odd feeling of someone else in his bed. It seemed louder now, with two people's breathing breaking the silence, and warmer with his back nearly touching Stein's. Eerie, almost. _I'll send him back to his own room once he's calmed down_, Spirit thought, absently listening to the sound of Stein's breathing. It was hard to tell anything was wrong with the other boy, as steady as his breath was, but somehow Spirit could feel the tension in Stein's shoulders, feel it ease out gradually. Good. He was calming down.

Spirit sighed softly to himself. There was a small part of him that wondered just what kind of dream could upset Stein this badly, and a larger part that warned he probably didn't want to know. Stein's head was an eerie place even with just a basic understanding of what made him tick; going any deeper, Spirit thought, you'd need a compass, ball of string, and a search-and-rescue team on standby just in case. Still, that didn't stop him wondering. Stein wasn't exactly the easiest person in the world to upset.

So wrapped up in his own thoughts, it took Spirit a few minutes to register that Stein's breathing had evened out into the deep, steady rhythm that signified sleep. Turning over, he was about to wake the silver-haired boy up again when he caught sight of the expression on the pale face. Peace. Spirit paused, his own expression softening out of the initial surprise. Stein so rarely looked anything but detached...and peace after a nightmare was something everyone wanted.

With a sigh, Spirit lay back down facing his meister. He didn't have the heart to wake Stein up. Besides, it was just the one night, right? That was what he'd said. So what was the harm in letting Stein sleep? Let him enjoy a peaceful night's sleep for a change. With those thoughts, Spirit drifted back to sleep.

The sun was already over the horizon by the time he woke up again. He blinked sleepily at the bed in front of him, now empty, then closed his eyes again. Stein had always been an early riser. No surprise he was already up. Spirit would have to get up himself in a few minutes, get breakfast started, but for now he was content to lie in bed and try to remember the dream he'd had. Or he thought it was a dream, anyway; as hazy as the details were, it was hard to really tell. It had been nice. Only one part really stood out in his mind, though: a voice, quiet and soft as though not entirely wanting to be heard, speaking three words.

"Thank you, Senpai."


End file.
